A SYDNEY primary school that pens children with autism in a fenced area at lunchtimes should be investigated for human rights violations, the New South Wales Opposition says.

Parents with children at Seven Hills West Public School are angry that pupils with special needs are placed inside a fenced enclosure that has one tree, a bench and a dirt floor.

But the NSW Department of Education has defended the enclosure, saying it is used for new students with disabilities if they require more intense supervision while they adjust to school.

The school has 52 students with special needs.

But Coalition disability spokesman Andrew Constance said the treatment of children with autism at the school was inhumane and called for the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission to investigate.

“To see the type of facility which autistic children are being penned in is outrageous,” he said.